The Genius Iron Hack That Lets You Make Crispy Grilled Cheese While Traveling

When you are on the road, it can be exhausting to need to figure out your meals all the time. Depending on where you are staying, the options can be pretty slim, and no matter what's on offer, it is going to cost you more than a home-cooked meal. Fortunately, if you get a bit creative, there are actually quite a few meals that you can cook in a hotel room with just the meager supplies on hand. One of the simplest is also a comfort food classic: a grilled cheese sandwich, which you can fry up using just the clothes iron hiding in the hotel room closet — or your own if you find yourself traveling with one.

It makes perfect sense that you could use a clothing iron to make a grilled cheese, as it is really not so different from a hot griddle or skillet, just one that you can hold in your hand. Although, there is a trick to doing it right. The real genius of this grilled cheese sandwich hack comes from utilizing not just the iron but also a layer of aluminum foil.

A good grilled cheese needs either butter or mayonnaise to make the bread crisp and rich, but slapping buttered bread straight onto an ironing board and then dropping a hot clothes iron on top is going to make the sort of mess that is likely to show up on the bill at the end of your stay. With a layer of aluminum foil in between, however, you can whip up a crispy, melty grilled cheese sandwich completely mess-free.

When it comes to making the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich, there are certainly plenty of steps where finesse is important. But for most grilled cheese recipes, it is a pretty simple process. You just need to put some cheese between two slices of bread and then fry it on both sides with some sort of oil to crisp it up. The process for cooking grilled cheese with a clothes iron is not so different.

Start by turning the iron to max heat. While it is warming up, you can put together the sandwich. Put your cheese between two slices of bread and spread the outside with either mayonnaise or butter. Then, wrap the sandwich tightly in aluminum foil, ensuring that the foil is nice and flat against the bread so that heat transfers easily. You can also just fold the foil over the sandwich to ensure the thinnest barrier possible while also keeping the cheese and oil contained.

Place the wrapped sandwich on an ironing board or countertop (a towel underneath will give some extra protection) and then set the iron on top. You will hear the sizzle as the sandwich begins to cook. Depending on the thickness of the bread and the heat of the iron, this process may take as long as 10 minutes per side, so be patient. Keep an eye on everything as it cooks, both so you don't burn your sandwich and so that the iron doesn't slip off and start cooking the rest of the hotel room. When the bread is crisp and the cheese melted, your sandwich is done.

A grilled cheese sandwich on its own is a wonderful thing, but the best grilled cheese recipes all involve some add-ins or accompaniments. You could microwave yourself a bowl of condensed tomato soup on the side, but honestly this technique works with just about any type of fancy grilled cheese sandwich out there. Frankly, there are loads of amazing options to choose from.

For starters, you can spice up your sandwich by adding maple butter to your grilled cheese. This simple tweak only requires that you pick up one extra ingredient at the grocery store, but it adds loads of fall flavor to your meal. Along those same lines, all this easy apple grilled cheese recipe calls for (on top of the usual ingredients) is a bit of apple butter and sliced apples. And a few slices of bacon tossed in certainly wouldn't go amiss either. For a touch of elegance rivaling even the very best room service menus, take inspiration from this Brie grilled cheese recipe stuffed with blackberries, prosciutto, and sage. The result is something altogether spectacular — and miles away from your run-of-the-mill cheese sandwich.

Lastly, we'd be remiss not to tell you that this technique can also be used for pizza. Turn leftover pizza into a grilled cheese sandwich by slapping two slices together, cheese to cheese, wrapping it in foil, and giving it the iron treatment until warm, melty, and delicious. With this simple technique in your culinary arsenal, travel dinners will never be the same.